Arts Theatre

Reviewed – 5th March 2019

★★★★★

“one of the hottest shows on right now, created by brilliant, talented young artists who are shaking up the West End”

The 2019 Olivier Awards nominations were announced yesterday, with Six up for five. For a student-created show that debuted at Edinburgh Fringe in 2017, Six has skyrocketed to the highest ranks of London theatre. The performance starring all six of Henry VIII’s wives joins Come from Away, Tina, and Fun Home in the Olivier category for Best New Musical. These are the biggest players in the West End, and Six has incredibly but undeniably earned its place among them.

Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, and directed by Moss and Jamie Armitage, Six is not like musicals you’ve seen before. Framed as a pop concert/X Factor competition, the ex-queens take turns singing their stories, all vying for the title of Who Had It Worst with the infamously bad-tempered King Henry. Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived. The six songs are as different as the six women. Marlow and Moss cover the range of pop, drawing influence from modern queens Beyoncé, Adele, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, Lilly Allen, and Alicia Keys. Genuinely hit-worthy music, beyond-clever lyrics (rapid-fire historical references spun with millennial-modern allusions), and knock-out performances (from the queens as well as their all-female live band) combine to create a formidable new contender on the musical scene.

Jarneia Richard-Noel (Catherine of Aragon), Millie O’Connell (Anne Boleyn), Natalie Paris (Jane Seymour), Alexia McIntosh (Anna of Cleves), Aimie Atkinson (Katherine Howard), and Maiya Quansah-Breed (Catherine Parr) rock the glittered combat boots and Tudor-punk, power-glam outfits that have earned Gabriella Slade an Olivier nomination for Best Costume Design. The queens belt out their songs and slay their choreography with the same energy you’d expect from the real-life divas who inspired them. McIntosh stands out for her excellent comedic presence.

Although it may seem dubious, considering the premise involves Henry’s wives competing over who had the worst marriage, the show is undoubtedly feminist. The six women take the microphone to reclaim their stories – to give their perspectives, which have been left out of the history books. That they all perform as each other’s supporting vocals and backup dancers effectively reveals the facetious nature of their rivalry. They’re really a team. And although they only come to this realisation in the end, the show spends the whole time arguing they were people, not just wives.

Six is largely tongue-in-cheek. It’s funny and fun more than it’s informative. The whole thing is joyously playful, surprisingly fresh, and wildly entertaining. There’s a delightful, amateurish silliness to the concept, which seems to stem from a couple of sleep-deprived students procrastinating their History final. (Recent Cambridge grads Marlow and Moss wrote the play during their exams).

Six has had an incredible journey, from its beginnings at Edinburgh Fringe just two years ago, to the five Olivier nominations it received yesterday. This is one of the hottest shows on right now, created by brilliant, talented young artists who are shaking up the West End.

And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens

King’s Head Theatre

Reviewed – 15th August 2018

★★★★

“a stunning piano and vocal set that frames the first act”

Seeing this passionate and surprising play by Tennessee Williams – unperformed during his lifetime – is reminiscent of a moment that happens towards the end of Russell T. Davies’ ‘A Very English Scandal’. “I can only speculate,” says Hugh Grant’s Jeremy Thorpe, referring to his relations with men before the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Britain, “but if you do know those men, George, then you know those nights and you know how those nights can end”. What follows is a snapshot of violent and volatile scenes of Thorpe picking up men, and a similar sense of threat and menace hangs over this beautiful and moving portrayal of oppressed male sexual desire by young director Jamie Armitage.

Ageing drag queen Candy Delaney (Luke Mullins) is nearing ‘her’ thirty-fifth birthday and picks up hot-headed sailor (George Fletcher) on leave for the weekend. Taking him back to her apartment, she offers him anything he wants, all at her expense, just for “some companionship”. Williams’ script is a touching and desperate back and forth filled with honest, risky confessions and financial bartering leading to a dramatically violent, yet familiar, end.

Brimming with emotion, Luke Mullins is an exceptional Candy. Starting off cool and confessional, he convincingly turns desperate and pitiful, and years of heartbreak and pain are readable in every look he gives. It’s a moving performance that makes Candy as the shows central figure so watchable. His upstairs tenants, two ‘queens’ played by Ryan Kopel and Joe Beighton, barge into the second act bringing a much-needed burst of energy, and, under Beighton’s musical direction, provide a stunning piano and vocal set that frames the first act. Armitage’s graceful use of light and colour create a beautiful pastel palette that evokes the heat and period, and choice blackouts create dread and drama at all the right moments.

For those familiar with Williams’ plays, “And Tell Sad Stories…” maintains the emotional weight of his most well-known works, and as a drama in two acts, leaves the audience desperate for more. This is just one of many ‘sad stories’, and the passions and drama on show here leave a lasting impression long after the final bow.